Disabled

Antiquity

In terms of personal life, there is no evidence to suggest that disabled Greeks were barred from marriage or reproduction. This likely stemmed from the belief that deformed parents did not necessarily produce deformed offspring; however, disabled individuals may have faced greater challenges in finding a suitable partner, as they were sometimes rejected by the family of a potential spouse. Regarding their economic situation, disabled Greeks—regardless of gender or social rank—worked in a variety of positions and professions. According to Lysias, a disabled man who uses two canes to walk "plies a craft" and runs a shop, demonstrating that disabled individuals were not deprived of the ability to support themselves. In On Joints,Hippocrates describes people with arm disabilities also being engaged in "handiwork", provided they were still able to operate tools. Plato also mentions in Laws that slaves who acquired disabilities later in life could be reassigned to other suitable roles, a principle that logically should also apply to free individuals in Greece.